Manchester United beat Benefic 2-0 in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
The red devils are a point away from the Champions League knockout phase with this fourth win from four Group A matches.
This is a good position but José Mourinho cannot have aided the struggling Romelu Lukaku’s confidence after insisting Daley Blind take United’s second penalty of the night.
On 78 minutes the England International Marcus Rashford’s fine burst secured the spot-kick but when Lukaku stood over it at first he did not give way. This caused Jose Mourinho annoyance before, after a brief intervention from Ander Herrera, Blind finally stepped up to smack the ball home.
Immediately, Mourinho made a gesture again to signal his disquiet, as he did via the win of Saturday against Tottenham Hotspur. Asked about the yapping-hand action, the Portuguese could not recall it. “I don’t remember that,” he said.
Before this contest the manager described Lukaku as “untouchable” so it seemed an odd decision to deny him a chance to break a five-game scoring drought, especially with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday next up.
ManU manager said, “I don’t understand why everyone asks me the same; I am paid to take decisions good or bad. In the first half the decision was bad [as Anthony Martial missed one].”
“In the second half I made another decision and I don’t see the drama, the penalty taker for this match was Martial, he was not even on the pitch when the second one was given. Romelu wants to take, he has the personality to take the responsibility, and Herrera was the same. But my decision was based on training in the past couple of days, the players respected my decision and that was it, end of story,” he added.
